FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES HELPFUL TIPS ON PREPARING YOUR APPLICATIONS FOR EXTERNAL GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS

FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL

STUDIES

HELPFUL TIPS ON PREPARING YOUR APPLICATIONS FOR

EXTERNAL GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS

Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies

Tips to help you prepare your application• Use most recent version of the form; use the web-based form

if available

• Read carefully the guidlines from the granting agency

• Only official original transcripts are accepted. Please ask your academic unit to request your University of Ottawa transcript (no cost to students). Order your transcripts from other universities as soon as possible, however they must show the results from the Spring/Summer session and must be sent directly to the University

• Neatness, grammar and spelling count

• Complete the entire application, including signatures


Tips to help you prepare your application

• Clarity is essential

• Get someone (ideally, your supervisor, your referees, a professor, a more senior graduate student or a student ambassador) to read over your application and give you feedback

• Strong references are important

• Provide only the supporting documents specified


Tips to help you prepare your application

• Keep your potential “audience” in mind

• Allow yourself and your referees enough time to do a thorough, careful job

• Respect the minimal average and the deadline

• You are responsible for ensuring that the application arrives on time


Getting Good Referees

• Give referees plenty of time

• When you approach a professor for a reference, ask if he or she feels able to provide you with a strong reference

• Provide the referees with the form with your information completed and the deadline indicated

• Ideally one of your referees should be your supervisor


Getting Good Referees

• Be clear who will be responsible for submitting the letter to your academic unit and make the proper arrangements with the referee

• Include a copy of your Plan of Study or Statement of Interest, your CV and your transcripts

• Choose referees who are able to comment on your abilities within an academic context


Tips On Preparing Your Plan of Study or Statement of Interest

• Your application may be reviewed by someone outside of your specific discipline

• Don’t go into too many details about your thesis design or get too technical, but don’t be too sketchy either

• Don’t rely on generalizations. Be focused and concise

• Be sure to read carefully any guidelines given by an agency on what they wish to see in a plan of studies or statement of interest

• Don’t claim to address or fix all the problems in your discipline

• Be grammatical and avoid words or technical terms that exceed your grasp or the scope of potential reviewers

• Avoid platitudes and warm “fuzzies” about the importance of your interests or the importance of your chosen discipline

• Avoid grandiose claims of how you’re going to improve the world

• Focus on tangible aspects of your interest


Tips On Preparing Your Plan of Studyor Statement of Interest

Do’s

• I plan to study how …

• Research suggests that …

• I plan to administer a survey to … The survey will include measures of…

• I will use structural equation modeling to test an hypothesized model of the relationships among … measured in the survey.

• I chose to pursue graduate studies in … because I am interested in studying and working with …

• In particular, I am interested in how … can be used to ...


Tips On Preparing Your Plan of Studyor Statement of Interest

Don’ts

• It is important to understand …

• To date, no good research has been conducted in this area. The research is limited because…

• I plan to conduct a study that will help answer many questions about this …

• My study will be very important in helping …

• I chose to pursue graduate studies in … because the profession of … and my personality are undermined by the same values.

• It’s important for all people to engage in meaningful occupations and I plan to complete my graduate degree in … so that I can help people do the things that are important to them


AMBASSADORS

• Share their knowledge and experience in pursuing graduate studies at the University of Ottawa

• Encourage students to apply for external funding

• Help students in completing their applications for external funding

• Available to meet with students at their office

Consult our website for the ambassadors office hours

www.grad.uottawa.ca/Default.aspx?tabid=1879


Contact us

Hagen Hall, Room 104

115 Séraphin Marion Street

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: (613) 562-5800 ext. 2636 Fax: (613) 562-5992

Paulette Arsenault

Awards Officer

Humanities and Social Sciences

Daniel Melanson

Awards Officer

Science, Engineering & Medicine

Documents

FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES HELPFUL TIPS ON PREPARING YOUR APPLICATIONS FOR EXTERNAL GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS